Theme or amusement park ride attractions have become increasingly popular. Certain types of rides provide immersive experiences that include images, sounds, and/or physical effects (e.g., smoke effects) that are used in conjunction with the movement of the ride. For example, the motion of a passenger vehicle can be synchronized with projected images to emphasize a feeling of speed or falling. Depending on the type of passenger vehicle or ride, different types of motion may augment the ride experience. Track-based vehicles are capable of forward or translational motion along the axis of the track. In addition, such vehicles may be capable of other types of motion. For certain rides, passenger vehicles are moved via a motion base that can move the passenger platform or ride vehicle in several different directions including angular movements, such as roll, pitch and yaw, and linear movements, such as heave and surge. These various degrees of freedom can be used to simulate the effect of actually moving in synchronization with the projected images or motion picture. For example, in an amusement ride that attempts to simulate the feeling of racing through city streets in an automobile, the motion base might use a combination of roll and yaw to give passengers the feeling of moving around sharp turns while the image on the screen shows a view of rounding a curve in the street. However, to move heavy passenger vehicles, such motion bases are correspondingly large and heavy and, therefore, energy inefficient.